


Avengers: Reassembled

by Pheylan



Series: Avengers: Reassembled [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Modern Bucky Barnes, Rating for canon typical violence and Bucky's Potty Mouth, Seriously the boy can't open his mouth withou foul language just flying out, and that was a chore lemmetellya, mostly movie compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 04:29:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12028137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheylan/pseuds/Pheylan
Summary: Loki has stolen the tesseract and Fury calls Avengers to Assemble.  Enter SHIELD Special Agent James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.  In which he sasses his teammates, meets his hero, and gets to shoot an alien ray gun.  Oh, and helps save the world, but that’s pretty standard for a Tuesday.





	Avengers: Reassembled

**Author's Note:**

> I have been wanting to do a Modern Bucky story for a while, because I've read so many really great ones. This is nothing like I originally planned, but sometimes you just gotta run with what the muse gives you. Parts of the dialogue are ripped straight from the movie, so credit to the writers for that. Bucky's potty mouth is a result of me being a fan of the comics as well. Comics Bucky was raised by soldiers, so he swears as often as he breaths (depending on the writer).
> 
> Thanks to Aenarias for doing some beta work. Also, thanks to the hubby for letting me bounce ideas off of him even though he doesn't do fan fiction.

James Buchanan Barnes startled awake when his phone started loudly playing “Secret Agent Man.”  He fumbled for the device while his brain latched onto the fact that he’d fallen asleep on his couch.  
  
“Yeah, Phil.” Bucky started to rub the sleep out of his eyes and realized he was going to use his metal hand.  He settled for blinking at the blank screen on his TV.  
  
“We’re picking you up tomorrow at 0600,” Phil Coulson stated.  “A debriefing packet has been sent to your account that needs to be read before then.”

“Wait, what?” Bucky sagged back into the worn cushions of his sofa.  “I just came off of a long op, like, a few hours ago.  I’m on mandatory downtime.”

“Sorry, Barnes,” Phil replied.  “Fury is activating the Avengers Initiative.”

“Really?  I thought the WSC tanked that.” Bucky locked onto the clock on his Blu-ray to see it was only just after 10:00 pm.  Wow, he was jetlagged.

“They may have; Fury didn’t,” Coulson explained.

“Okay,” Bucky agreed. “So, me, Nat, Clint, and who else?  Tony Stark?”

“Barton’s been compromised,” Coulson said. “Read the packet and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“What the fuck?!”  Bucky sat up straight.  “Clint?!  No, way, Phil!”

He could just make out the strain in Coulson’s voice when he said, “Please, Bucky.  Just read the packet.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bucky replied. “See you in the morning.”

Bucky disconnected the call and took a few moments to just sit and percolate the information.  The Avengers Initiative was something he’d gotten a file on a couple of years ago and then nothing.  When he’d asked about it, he had been told the World Security Council had thought that Director Fury was overreacting. He finally got up to grab the laptop out of his go bag, which was still sitting just inside the door where he’d dropped it when he got home three hours ago.  He found the packet and determined that he really was not awake enough to study it properly.  Looking at the amount of data, he decided he could get a few more hours sleep and go over everything in the morning.  He shut down the computer and then headed to his bedroom, programming the alarm on his phone as he went.

***  
Bucky jerked awake, gasping as the images of blood and violence in his brain receded.  He stared unblinking at his ceiling until the words he’d painted on them when he first moved in made an impression on his brain.

__ You’re in Brooklyn.  
You’re not a POW anymore.  
BREATHE, ASSHOLE! 

He forced himself to follow the direction of the last line until his gasping breaths evened out to normal. 

Technically, he hadn’t actually been a prisoner of war, but only because the people he had fought and been captured by were not the people he’d been sent to fight.  His Ranger unit had been deployed into the wilds of Afghanistan to root out a terrorist group.  However, when they found the base, it had already been taken over by someone new.  Someone with weird ass weapons that they had no way to combat.  Bucky managed to get his team out of there, but lost his left arm and his freedom in the process.  He spent the next six weeks as the favorite guinea pig of a group of mad scientists (which apparently was an actual thing).  Most of that time he could only remember as a drugged out haze, but the parts that weren’t hazy tended to be much more painful than he wanted to recollect.  It ended when they shot him up with something that was supposed to speed up healing and instead turned him into their worst nightmare.  When all was said and done, he wandered around the dead bodies until he found an intact cell phone and calmly called his CO.  He was eventually picked up by a joint Army and SHIELD team.  Much later, after he’d been examined and the base had been thoroughly searched, he was informed that the stuff they had used to try to overclock his healing was a derivative of a super soldier serum. 

When he was given his honorable discharge, his CO had slipped him the name of a former Ranger and old friend who was currently working with SHIELD.  Phil Coulson wanted to offer Bucky a job.

He finally kicked the last of the nightmare just in time for his stomach to rumble and his alarm to go off. Bucky grabbed his phone as he rolled out of bed and headed towards the kitchen.  Time for breakfast, a shower, and that data.

***  
Bucky was on the roof with his go bag texting an apology to his mom that he wouldn’t be meeting her for lunch after all when a quinjet stopped overhead and slowly lower down to within a few feet of the building.  He hit send as the tail end opened up and he jumped aboard.  

“So, can I fly the ‘jet?” he asked Phil as he stowed his go bag. 

“No,” Phil answered blandly from where he was reading something on the quinjet’s computer.

“Can I co-pilot?”  He grinned at the older agent, already knowing the answer.

“You can sit down and stay out of the cockpit,” Phil stated with a slight frown.  “Nobody wants to be in a vehicle that you are piloting.”

“Aww, Phil,” he mock pouted as he sat down next to the third man in the hold.  He turned to say something, but it all went out the window when he registered the identity of the person he was sitting next to.  “Well fuck me running!”

He heard Phil sigh as Captain Steve Rogers raised his eyebrows and gave Bucky an amused look.  “Sounds complicated.”

“Captain Rogers meet Agent Barnes and his potty mouth,” Phil introduced.

“You love my potty mouth,” Bucky shot at the older man before turning and offering his hand to the captain.  “Bucky Barnes.  Pleased to meet you.”

“Steve Rogers.  Likewise.”

“Sorry about the language,” he apologized.  “I read the file saying that they’d found you, but I didn’t think they’d be trying to pull you in on an op so soon.  You’ve only been awake a few days, right?”

“Six, yeah,” Rogers replied, looking uncomfortable.  “You’re the other super soldier?”

Bucky noticed the screen on Rogers’ tablet was showing a picture of him from when he was rescued.  He was wearing a lot of dried blood and a dead man’s pants.  His head was shaved and the scars around his new adamantium arm were still an angry red despite the serum.

“Yeah,” Bucky answered.  He waved with his left hand. “And cyborg to boot.  I may not have volunteered for this, but I’m pretty damned happy with the end result.”

Rogers gave a tight smile and then looked back at his tablet.  He closed the file on Bucky and opened the one on Bruce Banner/the Hulk  A couple of minutes later he said, “So, this Dr. Banner was trying to recreate the serum they used on me, too?”

“A lot of people were,” Phil explained, getting up from the computer station and stepping over to stand beside Bucky.  “You were the world’s first superhero.  Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.” 

“More likely something about the water in Brooklyn,” Bucky muttered.

Rogers gave him a side eye and partial smirk before looking back at the tablet and turning serious again.  “Didn’t really go his way.”

“Not so much,” Phil agreed. “When he’s not that thing he like a regular Stephen Hawking…”

Rogers gave Phil a questioning look, so Bucky leaned over and said, “He’s like a smart person.”

Phil looked pained for a moment and then plowed on.  “I’ve gotta say, it’s a real honor to meet you.  Officially.  I sort of met you.  I mean.  I watched you...while you were sleeping.”

Bucky pressed his lips tightly together and tried not to laugh as he saw Phil realize what that sounded like.  It got harder as Phil continued to dig himself into a hole with his own words.  As Rogers got up and walked to the front of the ‘jet, Bucky put his right hand over his mouth and started snickering.  Phil glared at  him a moment before turning back to Rogers and joining him behind the cockpit.

“It’s just a...it’s just a huge honor to have you on board,” Phil concluded.

“Well, I hope I’m the man for the job,” Rogers replied.

“Oh, you are,” Phil assured.  “Absolutely.  Ah, we made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input.”

“The uniform?” Rogers queried.  “Aren’t the stars and stripes a little...old fashioned?”

“Everything that’s happening?  Things that are about to come to light?  People might just need a little old fashioned.”

***  
Bucky handed his and Rogers’ go bags to a low level SHIELD agent while Phil introduced the Captain to Natasha Romanov.  

“Hi,” Natasha said before telling Phil, “They need you on the bridge.  They’re starting the face trace.”

“See you there,” Phil said as he walked off.

Natasha gave Rogers a quick once over before smiling knowingly at Bucky.  As the three started walking Natasha commented to Rogers, “It was quite the buzz around here finding you in the ice.  I thought Coulson was going to swoon.”

“Damnit, I missed that,” Bucky noted with a sigh.

Natasha gave him an amused look.  “I’m willing to bet you squeed when you got the debriefing files.”

Bucky gave Natasha his best murderface.  “It was a manly squee.”

Rogers chuckled at their banter.  Natasha focused back on him.  “Did Coulson ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards, yet?”

“Trading cards!” Rogers exclaimed in bafflement.

“They’re vintage,” she replied.  “Near mint condition.”

“A little foxing around the edges,” Bucky added.  “He’s very proud.”

At that point all three of them noticed Bruce Banner stumbling around and looking uncomfortable.

Steve called out to the scientist and offered his hand.  As Rogers and Banner talked Bucky moved to stand beside Natasha.

<We heard anything new on Clint?> he asked her in Russian.

<Nothing,> she replied in kind.

<How’s Laura taking it?>

<Fury doesn’t want to tell her yet.> Natasha frowned.  <He wants to see if we can recover him first.>

Bucky rolled his eyes. <Because Fury is a tight lipped mother fucker.>

Natasha gave him a look, to which Bucky shrugged.  <He knows I don’t like him.  He also knows I’ll do my job.>  He shook his head. <If I get sent against Clint, I’ll try my damnedest to take him alive.  We’ll get your brother back.>

<I know.> Natasha nodded determinedly. She paused to listen to something on her com.

“Gentlemen,” she called interrupting Rogers and Banner’s conversation, “we may want to step inside a minute. It’s going to get hard to breathe.”

Bucky heard the familiar sounds of the turbines starting up as the other men looked around and the sudden bustle on deck.

“Is this a submarine?” Rogers asked, his face lighting up.

“Really,” Banner said.  “They want me in a submerged pressurized container?”

Bucky grinned and gestured toward the edge of the helicarrier where he could now hear the turbines breaking through the surface of the water.  The other two men stepped over to look.

“Oh, no.  This is much worse,” Banner decided as the helicarrier started to rise.

***  
Bucky dropped into a chair at the conference table at the back of the bridge, slouching down to get comfortable.  He knew he had a reputation around SHIELD for being slightly on the crazy side - a reputation that he carefully cultivated - and because of that he made a lot of people nervous.  The Winter Soldier was called in when the agency needed someone extremely dangerous.  So, unlike the others on his team, he did not wander around the deck looking over operations.  He did sit up and pay attention when Dr. Banner started asking where they were in tracking the tesseract.  After Phil’s explanation and Banners’ suggestions, he slouched back down again. 

As Natasha led the doctor off the bridge, Bucky tapped on the table in front of him to activate a computer screen.  Typing one handed - metal hands were not touchscreen friendly - he pulled up his work email.  Might as well clear it out while waiting for something he could do.

Several minutes later Phil walked over to lean against the table.  Bucky looked up at him as the other agent nodded towards Rogers.  “He seems to be taking everything well.  Doesn’t seem to be phased by the technology.”

“Well, he was working with Howard Stark and the SSR just a few days ago by his reckoning, so I’m sure he’s used to being around cutting edge tech,” Bucky replied with a shrug. “And he’s also probably using it to distract himself.  Thinking about all the new shiny things instead of everything he’s lost.”

“Why do you think that?” Phil asked turning to face him.

“It’s what I did,” Bucky admitted.  “And I’m not about to play Top My Trauma with a man who’s been on ice for 70 years after fighting in World War II.”  Bucky shifted in his seat.  “For his sake, I hope we can wind this op up quickly.  He should be in counseling, not in combat.”

Coulson smiled at him.  “You’re going into mother hen mode again.”

Bucky shrugged.  “Once a fucking sergeant, always a fucking sergeant.”

They fell into companionable silence and watched the Captain walk over to one of the railings and lean against it, his curiosity apparently sated for the time being.

“Think he’d sign my cards?” Phil suddenly asked.

Bucky huffed out a laugh.  “Probably.  As long as you ask nicely and don’t do much fanboy flailing.”

Phil frowned down at him.  Bucky just grinned.  “Christ on a cracker, just go talk to him!  You’re probably going to end up being his handler, so you really need to get to know him as a person.”

“Okay, I will,” Phil said, straightening up.  Bucky watched him settle into his Agent Face and then walk across to where Rogers was standing.  

Bucky listened in as Phil tried and failed to suppress his inner fanboy, although he didn’t laugh this time.  As Natasha pointed out, he wasn’t that much better.  He just hadn’t had a chance to put his foot in his mouth yet.  

Something started beeping loudly and Sitwell called out, “We got a hit! 67% match...Wait. Cross-match. 79%.”

“Location?” Phil asked, immediately switching from fanboy to Agent as he walked over to look at the computer with Sitwell.

“Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Kõnig Straße,” the agent replied. “He’s not exactly hiding.”

“Captain?” Director Fury called out  “You’re up. Barnes you’re with the Captain.”

***  
Bucky led Rogers back to the locker room where their uniforms were waiting along with racks of Bucky’s favorite weapons. He started stripping out of his civvies and a moment later Rogers followed suit.  

“So, you been staying at the New York headquarters?” Bucky asked, pulling on his uniform pants.  It would make sense as that office was mostly medical research.

“Yeah, at first,” Rogers replied.  “They moved me to an apartment in Brooklyn a couple of days ago.”

“Throwing you in the deep end, huh? Who you rooming with?” Bucky pulled on the sleeveless undershirt and reached for his armored jacket

“No one,” Steve said, pulling on his own undershirt.  “Dr. Williamson gave me some money and a bunch of stuff to read and said he’d check on my regularly while I adjust.”

“Da fuck?” Bucky paused in putting on his armored jacket.  “Wait.  Eric Williamson?”

“Yes?”  

“Why the hell is Fury letting that asshat handle you?” Bucky growled out. At Rogers’ questioning look he elaborated, “He was my assigned therapist when I started here.  It only took a couple of sessions with him to know he was a fucking waste of space.”  He shook his head.  “I’ll talk to Phil.  We’ll get you someone who will actually help.  Hell, my mom is a history professor at Empire State.  She’d be a good person to set up a curriculum to get you caught up on what you missed.”

“Thanks,” Rogers said, pulling on his uniform top.  “It would be nice to have a little more direction.”

Bucky was strapping on his shoulder harness when the Captain asked, “What’s this stuff, anyway?”

“Huh?”  Bucky looked up to see the him messing with the top flap of the jacket of his uniform.  “You mean the velcro?  They didn’t have that in the 40s?”

“Not the when I was awake.  How does this…?”

Bucky stepped over and pulled the flap shut pushing down on the velcro to make sure it caught as many hooks as possible.  Then he stepped back and really looked at the uniform.  “That cannot be what Phil designed.”

“So, it’s not some lightweight future armor?” Rogers asked.

“Well, it’s kevlar, so technically yes,” Bucky explained, frowning.  “But this is not the uniform of an active fighter.  I can’t see Phil dressing you like this.”

“So, I do look ridiculous,” Steve stated.

“I wouldn’t say that,”  he hedged.  “But you look more propaganda than soldier.  I’m betting Pierce is behind this.  That would explain Williamson.”

“Who’s Pierce?” Rogers reached for his belt, so Bucky turned to start arming himself.

“The Secretary of State.  He’s also the US representative on the World Security Council, and liaison between them, the US government, and SHIELD.  Everyone thinks he’s Mr. Amazing, but he gives me the fucking creeps.  When I first started with SHIELD he took a big interest in my assignments.  Said my contributions could shape the new century.  I’m pretty sure he’s the one who assigned that asswipe Williamson as my shrink. I finally told Phil that I didn’t want to work with either of them, so he said something to Fury and Pierce has left me alone since.”

“Sounds like a real swell fella,” Rogers said, pulling on his gloves.  He lifted the shield off its rack and then looked around the cubby further.  “Well, hell.”

“Hmm?” Bucky selected a large stun gun and fixed it to the magnet on his harness.

“They didn’t give me a harness to carry the shield on.”

“Seriously?  Definitely wasn’t Phil’s design.”  Bucky pulled open a locker with his backup uniform and rifled around in it. “And, of course, I don’t have a spare one.  Sorry, Cap.  I promise we  _ will _ get this uniform cockup sorted before the next time you need to suit up.”

“Thanks.”  He hefted the shield and then looked Bucky over.  “Ready to go?”

Bucky grabbed his facemask.  “Yep. Let’s head to the hanger.”

***  
The two super soldiers were bent over a monitor showing the CCTV images from the area around the Stuttgart museum as the quinjet came in.  Somehow there were a lot more Lokis than there had been originally.

“Okay, I’m betting that all but this one are an illusion,” Rogers said, pointing to what they thought was the original.

“Yeah, so you distract the fucker and I’ll shoot him in the face?”  Bucky asked.

“We need him alive, Agent Barnes,” the Captain said with a frown.

“It’s a stun gun, Captain Rogers.”  Bucky couldn’t help the grin.  He was about to go into combat with Captain America.  His folks were going to shit kittens when they found out.

The quinjet got to the square just as an old man stood up in defiance.

“God dammit!” Bucky exclaimed, hitting the button to open the back of the quinjet. “Idiot’s going to get himself killed.”

“Right,” Rogers agreed, heading toward the open hatch.  “I’ll distract Loki, you shoot him in the face.”

“Hell, yeah!”  Bucky strapped on his facemask and headed out the hatch just as Rogers landed using the shield to deflect the energy bolt Loki had shot at the old man.

Time slowed for Bucky as the adrenaline rush hit and the serum kicked him into overdrive.  This allowed him to plan his landing even as he fell.  It also allowed him to have the gun off his back and aimed as he straightened up.  He heard Steve lecturing Loki as he pulled the trigger.  And then watched in surprise as Loki blocked the stun bolt with his staff and shot an energy bolt back almost faster than super soldier reflexes could respond.  Bucky got his arm up to block the bolt to the face, but was still slammed into the brick retaining wall he’d been standing in front of and time sped back up.

Bucky blinked and shook his head.  Oh, that was a bad plan.  He was pretty sure he was concussed.  He struggled to get up through the pain vaguely aware that the quinjet had swung round again and Natasha was calling for Loki to stand down.  Leaning against the wall he had hit, he was barely able to focus on Steve getting his ass handed to him by the alien.  Bucky could heal from an injury like this pretty quickly, but it obviously wouldn’t be quick enough.  He managed to stand up straight just as the noise in his head resolved into the strains of AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill”.

And then Iron Man was hitting Loki with repulsor fire and landing in the square.  Bucky staggered forward and reached him about the time that the alien surrendered.  Rogers and Stark acknowledged each other’s presence, but Stark didn’t so much as glance at him. Typical. 

***  
Bucky sat in the back of the quinjet and drank down a bottle of “vanilla” nutrient drink that some SHIELD scientist had developed to help him keep pace with his metabolism. His concussion had pretty much healed up while Natasha stepped in to secure Loki and talk to the German police.  Now, as they were taking off the alien was sitting quietly across the hold from him while Stark and Rogers stood up just behind the cockpit.  Bucky felt absolutely no qualms about using his enhanced hearing to eavesdrop on the two.

“I don’t like it,” Rogers muttered.

“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Stark questioned.

“I don’t remember it being that easy,” Rogers replied. “This guy packs a wallop.”

“Still, you’re pretty spry for an older fella.” The genius turned his focus from the alien to the Captain.  “What’s your thing? Pilates?”

“What?”

“It’s like calisthenics,” Stark explained offhandedly.  “You might have missed a couple things, you know. Doing time as a capsicle.”

“Give him a fucking break, Stark,” Bucky interrupted.  “Cap’s only been awake a few days.”

“And the Terminator can speak,” Stark said sarcastically.  “What are you, his guard dog?”

Bucky gave the billionaire his most deadpan look.  “Woof.”

Rogers shook his head at Bucky and then looked back at Stark.  “Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you.”

With no warning the weather turned and there was a lightning strike outside the quinjet.

“Where’s this coming from?” Natasha asked as Bucky noticed Loki flinch.  Apparently the other two men noticed it, too.

“What’s the matter?” Rogers asked. “Scared of a little lightning?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows,” the pale Asgardian replied.

There was more lightning and then a heavy thud that shook the quinjet.  

“Thor,” Bucky muttered as he braced himself.  

He saw Stark put on the Iron Man helmet and then open the back of the jet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Barnes called out as the tail started to open.

He got no answer.  As soon as the back end was open, the God of Thunder himself was there.  Stark powered up his repulsors, but before he could shoot, Thor knocked him back into the Rogers, grabbed Loki, and then took off into the storm.

“And now there’s that guy,” Stark intoned.

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha queried from the cockpit.

“That guy’s a friendly?” Rogers asked as Bucky rose from his seat.

“Doesn’t matter,” Stark replied.  “If he kills Loki or frees him, the tesseract is lost.”

“Stark,” Rogers barked out.  “We need a plan of attack!”

“I have a plan - Attack,” the genius replied as he stepped out of the back of the quinjet and activated his repulsors.

Rogers shook his head and looked at Bucky.  Then they both reached for parachutes.  

“I’d sit this one out, Cap,” Natasha called from the cockpit.  

“I don’t see how I can,” he responded as he followed Bucky’s motions to get the gear on.

“These guys come from legends,” Natasha explained.  “They’re basically gods.”

“There’s only one God, ma’am,” Rogers replied as he finished securing his chute. “And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”

“I cannot believe that came out of your mouth,” Bucky said, following the Captain out of the back of the jet.  “Did you really just call Natasha ‘ma’am’?”

Once he popped his chute, Bucky took a moment to pull his mask back up from where it had been dangling around his neck by it’s strap.  He then adjusted the lines so that he was headed toward where they could see flashes of repulsor fire.  He hit the ground almost at the same time as Rogers.  They both quickly shed their chutes and raced towards the fight.  And then Bucky got to see first hand the beauty that was Captain America throwing his shield.  The red, white, and blue disk gracefully bounced off both armored chests and back to Rogers.

“That’s enough!” the Captain yelled out.  When the two combatants turned to him he continued focusing on Thor, “Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here - “

“I’ve come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes,” Thor replied angrily.

“Then prove it,” Rogers stated.  “Put that hammer down.”

“Ah, yeah, no!” Stark piped up.  “Bad call.  He loves his - “ but he was unable to finish that sentence due to a hammer to the chest.

“You want me to put the hammer down?” Thor asked belligerently as he moved forward.

Bucky saw what was about to happen.  With a quiet “shit” he dropped to the forest floor and covered his head with his left arm.  He really wasn’t interested in having two concussions in the same night.  Once the shock wave passed, he rolled over and sat up.  Fortunately, the other three were moving to do the same.  All four stood and looked around to see that the forest immediately surrounding them had been flattened.

“Are we done here?” Rogers asked drily. 

***  
Bucky sat at the bridge conference table between Rogers and Natasha watching a live feed of Director Fury explaining the situation to Loki.  Somehow, he wasn’t surprised that the alien seemed unconcerned.  After all, he’d had plenty of time to get lost in the forest as Thor and Stark battled it out, but he hadn’t budged.  Bucky was pretty sure he wanted to be there and Loki’s taunting of the director did nothing to change his mind.

“He really grows on you, doesn’t he,” Banner said as they cut the feed to the cage.

“Life a damned fungus,” Bucky agreed quietly.

“Loki’s going to drag this out,” Rogers said.  “So. Thor, what’s his play?”

“He has an army called the Chitauri,” Thor explained, starting to pace.  “They’re not of Asgard nor of any world known.  He means to lead them against your people.  They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the tesseract.”

“An army,” the Captain responded disbelievingly, “from outer space.”  He glanced at Bucky who just shrugged.  Considering the people gathered at the table, it didn’t seem that far fetched to him.

“So, he’s building another portal,” Banner observed. “That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”

“Selvig?” Thor queried.

“He’s an astrophysicist,” Banner explained.

“He’s a friend,” Thor stated.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell,” Natasha said tightly, “Along with one of ours.”

Bucky gave Natasha’s forearm a quick squeeze in comfort as he asked.  “So, why did Loki let us take him?”

“I want to know that as well,” Rogers said, nodding at Bucky.  “He’s not leading an army from  here.”

“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki,” Banner countered.  “That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats.  You can smell the crazy on him.”

“Have care how you speak,” Thor warned.  “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he’s my brother.”

“He killed 80 people in two days,” Natasha replied flatly.

“He’s adopted?” Thor explained.

“I think it’s about the mechanics,” Banner stated.  “Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?”

“It’s a stabilizing agent,” Stark explained as he entered the bridge with Coulson.  He then turned to the agent and spoke softly while Phil waved him off.  Bucky’s enhanced hearing picked up something about flying Phil to Portland surprising the him with Stark’s generosity.

“Means portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD.”  Stark continued as he turned back to the room.  He tapped Thor’s arm in passing. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing.”  He walked up to the command area still lecturing.  “Also means that the portal can stay open as wide and as long as Loki wants.”

Stark paused and looked over the bridge.  “Ah, raise the mizzen mast.  Jib the topsails.”  He pointed off to one side.  “That man is playing Galaga!  Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.”

He looked around at the command screens, covered one eye and twisted back and forth.  “How does Fury even see these?”

“He turns,” HIll explained with an unimpressed expression on her face.

“Sounds exhausting.”  Stark started punching icons on the screens.  “The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily.  The only major component he needs is a power source of high energy density.  Something to…kickstart the cube.”

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Hill enquired.

“Last night,” Stark replied.  “The packet.  Selvig’s notes. The extraction theory papers?  Am I the only one who did the reading?”

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Rogers asked.

“He’d have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the cooling barrier,” Banner started to explain.

“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum effect,” Stark interrupted.

“Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor in the planet,” Banner countered.

“Finally, someone who speaks English,” Stark stated, walking up to Banner and extending his hand.

“Is that what just happened?” Rogers asked leaning towards Bucky.

“Fuck if I know,” he replied quietly.

“It’s good to meet you Dr. Banner,” Stark said.  “Your work in anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

“Thanks,” Banner replied after a moment’s hesitation.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube,” Fury said, entering the bridge. “I was hoping you might join him.”

“I’d start with that stick of his,” Rogers suggested.  “It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon.”

“I don’t know about that,” Fury responded.  “But it is powered by the cube.  And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Flying monkey’s?” Thor asked. “I do not understand - “

“I do!” Steve exclaimed.  He seemed to realize that his outburst was irrelevant.  Turning to Bucky he said more quietly, “I understood that reference.”  Bucky patted him on the shoulder.

Behind them Stark asked, “Shall we play, Doctor?”

“This way,” Banner said leading the billionaire out of the room.

***  
“So what do we do now?” Rogers asked turning to Bucky and Natasha.

“Something you’re probably intimately familiar with, Cap,” Bucky said pulling a couple of Snickers bars out of one of his pouches.  “Hurry up and wait.”  He held out one of the bars to Natasha. “Nat?”

She gave him a half smile and shook her head.  “Not all of us are perpetually hungry, James.”  She got out of her chair.  “I’m going to see if Hill has anything for me to do.” 

As she walked off Bucky offered the bar to Rogers.  “Chocolate?”

“Thanks,” the Captain said taking the bar.  “Hey! I know this brand!”

“It probably doesn’t taste quite the same,” Bucky warned.  “The candy companies are always tweaking the formulas to use cheaper ingredients.”  

Rogers bit into the bar as Thor sat down beside him.  He made a considerate face.  “Different, but still good.”

“Want one?” Bucky asked, offering the second bar to Thor.

“Thank you,” Thor replied gravely as he took the candy.  Bucky took a third bar out as the Asgardian unwrapped his and bit into it.  “Tasty.”

“So, you guys need clarification on anything just discussed,” Bucky asked around a mouthful of candy.

“I thought you didn’t understand all that science talk,” Rogers pointed out.

“Nope,” Bucky admitted with a grin, “But I’m good at looking things up and figuring out the basics.”

“I have a question for both of you,” Thor said.

The two super soldiers turned to face him.

“What are flying monkeys?”

***  
The explanation of flying monkeys was followed up by an explanation on Galaga and video games. Rogers asked about a map of the ship, so Bucky brought up the basic schematics on the screen in front of the Captain and showed him how to manipulate it.  While he and Thor played with that, Bucky pulled out his phone and checked Facebook to see what his family was up to.  His sister Rebecca turned out to be online, so they chatted for a while.

Eventually, Rogers stood up and stretched.  

“I need to move.” Turning to Bucky he asked,  “Do you think it would be okay for me to wander around?”

“Sure.  Just stay out of any place marked Restricted and be prepared to fend off more adoring fans.”

Steve nodded with a slight grin and then walked off.

“I do have a serious question, Agent Barnes,” Thor stated as Bucky typed a goodbye to his sister.

“Sure, Thor...or...ah, Your Highness?  How should I address you?”  Bucky asked, putting his phone away.

“Thor is fine,” the Asgardian assured.  “I was wondering about Dr. Jane Foster.  She was working with Erik Selvig when I was on earth last, but nothing has been said of her.”

“She was mentioned in the briefing packet as being one of the first people you came in contact with, but nothing else.”  Bucky thought a minute.  “Agent Coulson probably knows where she is.  If not, he can likely find out.”  He stood and looked around the bridge until he spotted Phil talking to Assistant Director Hill.  “There he is.  Come on let’s ask him.  Oh, and call me Bucky.  If you don’t stand on formality, I sure as hell won’t.”

***  
Phil was able to get the information that Thor wanted about Dr. Foster and Bucky learned a couple of things.  First, Asgardians were totally capable of making hearts eyes. Second, Thor felt like his people should have left Midgard alone.    

“When I first came to Earth, Loki’s rage followed me here and your people paid the price,” Thor said, gazing out the front observation window.  “And now again...In my youth I courted war.”

“War hadn’t started yet,” Fury interrupted from the level above them. “You think you could make Loki tell us where the tesseract is?”

“I do not know,” Thor answered.  “Loki’s mind is far afield; it’s not just power he craves. It’s vengeance...upon me.  There is no pain to pries this need from him.”

“A lot of guys think that,” Fury stated as he descended the stairs.  “Until the pain starts.”

“What are you asking me to do?” Thor queried as Phil and Bucky stepped up behind him.

“I’m asking, what are you prepared to do?” Fury said.

“Loki is a prisoner,” Thor asserted. 

“Then why do I feel that he’s the only person on this boat that wants to be here?” Fury countered.

Thor lowered his gaze, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

“Glad I’m not the only one asking that,” Bucky murmured to Phil.

Fury turned to stare at Bucky.  “Barnes, go find Romanov.  She may need backup.”

***  
Bucky sat in the hallway outside of the Hulk Containment Area as he listened in on Natasha interrogating Loki.  He really wished he could watch, but they both had felt it would be better if the alien didn’t realize there was a second person present.  

In the end it didn’t matter.  Loki was happy to spew out his hole card while trying to terrify Natasha.

“So, Banner.  That’s your play,” Natasha observed, dropping her ruse.

“What?”

Natasha spun around to leave the area and activated her com. “Loki means to unleash the Hulk.  Keep Banner in the lab.  Barnes and I are on the way. Send Thor as well.”  She stopped and turned back to the Asgardian.  “Thank you, for your cooperation.”  

Bucky fell in step with her as she passed him and they walked quickly toward Banner’s lab.

***  
Something was wrong.  Bucky couldn’t say why, but the closer they got to the lab, the more anxious he felt.  Thor joining them just before they got there did nothing to ease his mind. He had to consciously stop himself from falling into super soldier mode when he entered and heard Rogers bitterly stating the world hadn’t changed a bit.

“Did you guys know about this?” Banner asked of Natasha and him while gesturing to his computer screen which was displaying some kind of weapon labeled Phase 2.

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” Natasha countered.

Banner gave a tired laugh.  “I was in Calcutta.  I was pretty well removed.”

Bucky had to start doing his breathing exercises as Natasha tried to convince Banner to leave.  It was not the time to have a panic attack.

“I’d like to know,” Banner finally said. “Why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”

“It’s because of him,” Fury stated pointing at Thor.

“Me?”

“Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” Fury continued.  “We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly - hilariously - outgunned.”

“Our people want nothing but peace with your planet,” Thor stated.

“But you’re not the only people are you?” Fury countered.  “And you’re not the only threat.  The world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched.  They can’t be controlled.”

“Like you control the cube?” Rogers challenged.

Bucky started edging around the group toward Rogers.  If he was going to freak out, he wanted to be standing by someone who could stop him from doing damage.

“Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it,” Thor said.  “And his allies.  It a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.”

“HIgher form?” Rogers asked.

“You forced our hand,” Fury explained.  “We had to come up with so- “

“Nuclear deterrent,” Stark interrupted.  “Because that always calms everything right down.”

“Remind me again of how you made your fortune, Stark,” Fury snarked.

“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep - “ Steve started.

“Waitwait, hold on!” Stark cried.  “How is this now about me?”

“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” Steve gritted out.

“Jebus, Stark, can’t you give the guy a fucking break?” Bucky growled out.

“Oh, look, the lapdog returns,” Stark sneered at the same time that Rogers spit out, “I really don’t need you to fight my fights, Barnes.”

Bucky felt another surge of anxiety as the room broke out into more argument.  He found himself backing away from Stark and Rogers as he fought the threatened adrenaline rush.  The words around him turned into noise as his own heartbeat pounded in his ears.  He could feel the plates in his left arm shift and the familiar hum in his bones as it automatically prepared for a fight.  He took deep breaths trying to calm himself, but watching Rogers and Stark verbally tear into each other just ratcheted his tension up.  

Movement past them caught his attention.  Banner was saying something about trying to kill himself as he reached to the table behind him and picked up Loki’s spear.  

“You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanov?” Banner asked.  “You wanna know how I stay calm?”

Bucky found himself grabbing for his gun despite knowing how useless it would be.  He did manage to keep from bringing it up to aim at the scientist.

“Dr. Banner,” the Captain said calmly.  “Put down the scepter.”

Banner looked perplexed as if he had just noticed that he’d picked the alien object up.  Then there was a beeping from one of the screens.

“I got it,” he mumbled.  “Sorry kids.  You don’t get to see my party trick after all.”

The room broke into argument again as Thor demanded he be allowed to retrieve the Tesseract and return it to Asgard, while Rogers and Stark were at odds over who else should be going. Bucky looked over to Fury expecting to be assigned to the retrieval team, but suddenly there was an explosion and the helicarrier shook violently. 

Bucky scrambled up from where he fell to see Rogers help Stark stand up.  “Put on the suit!”

“Yep,” the genius agreed as he and Rogers exited the room.  Bucky followed behind.  A moment later Hill’s voice came over the coms saying that number three engine was down and someone would have to go outside to repair it.

“Stark, you copy that?” asked Fury.

“I’m on it,” Stark assured as the three of them raced to where the Iron Man armor was kept.  He turned to the two super soldiers.  “Engine 3.  I’ll meet you there.” 

The Captain looked at Bucky who gave a nod and then quickly lead them to the engine access way.  

“Christ on a fucking pogo stick!”  Bucky exclaimed staring out the hole in the side of the helicarrier at the mess.

“You kiss your ma with that mouth?” Rogers asked distractedly as he moved to the edge of the hole.  “Stark!  Stark, we’re here!

“Good,” Iron Man replied as he flew into view.  “Let’s see what we’ve got.”  He muttered to himself for a few seconds before starting to work on the mess.  “I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position.

Rogers nodded and the two of them jumped across the gap to the panel while Stark continued to work behind them. The Captain pulled out the indicated panel and looked at it helplessly.  

“What’s it look like in there?” Stark asked.

“It seems to run on some sort of electricity.”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Stark responded as Bucky leaned over the Captain’s shoulder to study the panel as well.

“Oh, here!” he said pointing them out to Rogers. “The relays are intact!”

“What’s our next move?” The Captain asked closing the panel.

“Even if I clear out the rotors, this thing won’t re-engage without a jump,” Stark answered.  “I’m gonna have to get in there and push.

“Well, if that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded!” Rogers exclaimed.

“That standard control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that should - “

“Speak English!” Bucky demanded.

The was a pause.  “See that red lever?”  

Bucky and Rogers turned around looking until the Captain spotted the lever in question across another gap in the helicarrier.

“It’ll slow the rotors long enough for me to get out,” Stark continued.  “Stand by it.  Wait for my word.”

The two of them jumped the gap and waited.  In the coms Bucky heard someone saying that there was a perimeter breach and that the hostiles were in SHIELD gear. It would also seem that the Hulk was loose.

“Fuckin’ peachy,” he muttered.

Suddenly, Rogers turned his head looking down to the catwalk below them.  Bucky followed his gaze in time to see someone in full riot gear toss a grenade toward the engine.  The Captain lept out, knocking it harmlessly away from the ship and landing on an outcropping of twisted metal.  He then jumped to the catwalk in front of the hostile.  He knocked that one out and then kicked the man behind him. The second man accidentally tossed his machine gun up to the catwalk where Bucky was.   He scooped that up and then raised an eyebrow as Rogers tossed that guy off the helicarrier.

A third hostile appeared in the doorway, but before Bucky could bring the gun up, Rogers tossed a piece of scrap metal which he ducked. As Rogers turned to jump up to where Bucky stood, the guy started firing again.  Bucky quickly returned fire, taking him down.  Then both men stepped back to cover the lever.

A few seconds later and the ship started tilting.  Over the coms Bucky heard that engine one had been taken down by Barton who was headed to the detention level.

“Does anyone copy?” Fury asked.

“This is Agent Romanov,” came the reply.  “I copy.”

Bucky and Rogers exchanged a look and then went back to watching the doorway.

“Stark, we’re losing altitude,” Fury called out.

“Yep.  Noticed,” he acknowledged.

Bucky then heard a loud scraping sound from the engine and realized that Stark was starting to turn the turbine.

Another hostile entered the doorway shooting.  As Bucky returned fire, Rogers stepped back.  Then Bucky heard a gasp and the sound of metal shifting behind him.  He turned in time to see Rogers slide off the end of the broken walkway only saving himself by grabbing a loose cable.

Bucky dropped down gripping the edge of the walkway with adamantium fingers.  He slid off the end so his body could reach Rogers.

“Grab onto me!”  

Rogers did so just as they both heard Stark say to pull the lever.

“We need a minute, here!” Rogers responded.

“Lever!”

With a heave Bucky pulled them both back onto the helicarrier.  Rogers immediately lept up and pulled the lever as the hostile opened fired again.  Bucky surged forward towards the gunfire with his left hand out to knock away the bullets.  Before he could jump down and attack, Iron Man came roaring through, knocking the guy out.  He rolled onto his back and lay there a moment.  Bucky turned to find Rogers slumped against the wall.  He sighed and leaned against the wall himself.  “Well, that was a fucking riot.”

Rogers shook his head at Bucky with a small grin.  He pushed himself up and leaned against the wall as well.  “Where to now?”

Bucky concentrated on the feed from his earpiece but it sounded like the fighting was over for the moment.  He started to call Phil for instructions when Fury’s voice came over the coms.

“Agent Coulson is down.”

Rogers and Bucky straightened up.  On the walkway below them Stark stood.

“The medical team is on it’s way to your location.”

“They’re here.  They called it.”

Bucky stood there stunned.  A moment later he startled when the Captain’s hand touched his shoulder.

“Bucky?  Are you all right?”  Rogers asked quietly.

“Uh…”  he looked down at Stark to see the same disbelief on his face that Bucky felt.  “Yeah.  Just…”  He cleared his throat.  “We should probably head to the bridge.”

***  
Stark left them to get out of his suit and the other two made a quick stop at their locker room.  While Bucky grabbed a couple of bottles of nutrient drink, Rogers divested himself of his jacket and cowl.  

Bucky handed one of the bottles to the Captain.  “I suggest you drink it fast.  It doesn’t taste very good, but it’ll keep you from needing a big meal after a fight.”

“Thanks.”  Rogers followed Bucky’s suggestion and slammed it back.  As he gave the empty bottle back he said, “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Holy fuck, we’re going to seriously need to work on your sense of taste,” Bucky replied as he tossed the bottles into the recycle chute.  “Come on.  Let’s see where Fury needs us.”

***  
Rogers and Stark sat at the conference table, but Bucky was feeling too restless to sit himself.  He paced behind them only stopping when Fury walked up to the table.  He glanced at the Director’s grim face and then dropped his gaze to the floor.

“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket,” Fury started.  The quiet sound of something hitting the table brought Bucky’s head back up.  “Guess he never did get you to sign them.”

Bucky clenched his fists as he realized what was lying there.  Coulson kept his cards in his locker in plastic sleeves.  He would definitely not have them in his coat while in combat.  Bucky glared up at Fury who gave him a very slight head shake.  

“We’re dead in the air up here,” Fury continued as Rogers reached for a card.  “Our communications.  The location of the cube.  Banner. Thor.  I got nothing for you.  Lost my one good eye.”  He looked down at the table and shook his head before looking up again.  “Maybe I had that coming.”  

Bucky gritted his teeth as the director started pacing around the table. 

“Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the tesseract,” the director confessed.  “I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier.”

Bucky’s glare didn’t subside as the director moved closer to him.  Fury calmly met his gaze before turning his head back toward the seated men.  

“There was an idea - Stark knows this - called the Avengers Initiative.”  Fury passed between Bucky and the table to lean on the chair between Rogers and Stark.  “The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people.  See if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to to fight the battles that we never could.” 

Fury gave Bucky a stern look over his shoulder before continuing, “Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea.  In heroes.”

Stark stood up as Fury said heroes.  Without looking at any of them he left the bridge.  

“Well,” the director said as he watched the billionaire leave.  “It’s an old fashioned notion.”

A moment later Rogers got up and followed Stark.  Fury turned to look at Bucky.  “You have something to say, Agent Barnes?”

“No, sir,” he growled out before turning and stalking off of the bridge. 

A few steps out the door and he engaged his com.  “Natasha?”

“I got Clint.  We’re in a secure room in the infirmary.”

Well, at least something went right.  Bucky headed that way for lack of anything better to do.  His anger must have been apparent to everyone he passed, going by how quickly other agents ducked out of his way.  Normally he’d care, but not now.  Not when he’d just lost his friend and mentor in an absolute cluster fuck.  

Once in the infirmary, he made himself use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to the nurse on duty while getting directions to Clint’s room.  He got as far as the door, but then stopped and just watched his two teammates through the glass.  They were sitting side by side, talking quietly enough that even he could only hear a slight murmur.  He sighed and took a couple of steps back until he was leaning against the wall opposite the door.  At least his team seemed to be okay.  He huffed out a half assed laugh.  Right now Phil would be accusing him of being a mother hen again.  Checking over his remaining chicks after losing a few.  He slowly slid down the wall until his butt hit the floor, then pulled his knees up to rest his head against them.  It was only then that he realized he had tears on his face.

Bucky had about cried himself out when he heard Rogers’ voice down the hall.   He stood up while wiping his face with the heel of his right hand.  A moment later and the Captain was standing before him, back in uniform and looking determined.  

“We’ve got a destination,” Rogers explained, “are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Bucky replied with a sniff.  He pulled himself to attention and then opened the door to Clint’s room.  

Rogers stepped into the doorway and addressed Natasha, “Time to go.”

“Go where?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” he replied.  “Can you fly one of those jets?”

From the doorway to the washroom Clint answered, “I can.”

Bucky noticed Rogers silently check with Natasha.  At her nod he told Clint to suit up and then retreated back to the hallway.

“ _ I  _ can fly a quinjet,” Bucky said with an exaggerated pout.

“So I hear,” Rogers said with a slight smile, patting him on the shoulder.  “Why don’t you go get your weapons and then meet us in the hanger.  And don’t bother with the stun gun this time.”

“Aye, aye, Cap!”  Bucky gave him a salute and then headed to his locker.

Less that 10 minutes later he entered the hanger; mask and warpaint on, and bristling with weapons.  He caught sight of Captain America striding down the middle of the hanger with Black Widow and Hawkeye a couple of paces behind.  He smiled under his mask and ghosted in behind the group, turning their triangle into a diamond.  A few steps more and Hawkeye directed the Captain to a quinjet that obviously was already running through a preflight routine.  They commandeered the plane with the pilot only giving a token protest.  Minutes later they were in the air and Iron Man passed them as they cleared the Helicarrier.  

***  
“Ho - ly shit!” Bucky exclaimed as they flew into Manhattan to see aliens falling out of a hole in the sky.

“Right there with you,” the Captain muttered beside him.

“Stark we’re on your three headed northeast,” Natasha said into the coms.

“What. Did you stop for drive through?” came the answering snark. “Swing up Park; I’m gonna lay ‘em out for ya.”

Bucky and Rogers braced themselves as Clint pulled them into Park Avenue.  Seconds later Stark showed up followed by several flying sleds.  Natasha engaged the big gun and started taking out the aliens. They flew through the resulting explosions and then headed towards Stark Tower with Natasha shooting anything else they ran across.

As they pulled up to the Tower, Bucky could just make out Thor and Loki battling it out on the penthouse balcony.

“Nat,” Clint started.

“See ‘em,” she acknowledged.

Clint swung the quinjet around and Natasha took aim, letting loose a barrage of bullets just after Loki knocked Thor aside.  However, the tall alien turned and shot back at them with his staff, taking out one of the engines.

“Shitfuckshitfuckshitfuck,” Bucky muttered as he and the Captain tried desperately to not get tossed about the hold.

But there was a reason Bucky and Natasha deferred to Clint when it came to flying.  He somehow managed to keep enough control of the quinjet that he was able to land it.  It wasn’t going to be flying ever again and the asphalt under it was definitely torn up, but all four of them got out unscathed.

“We gotta get back up there,” Cap said as they ran toward Stark Tower.  

A loud roaring caused them to stop short and look up at the hole in the sky.  Moments later something huge and armored swam out of the opening.

“What. The. Fuck.”  Bucky was suddenly very unhappy that he didn’t grab the grenade launcher while he was gearing up.

The monstrosity flew past them and suddenly aliens shot out of its sides to land on the buildings around them.  It was followed by even more of the flying sleds.  Bucky shook his head as he pulled the rifle off his back.  Time slowed for him as he started taking aim and shooting at the sled drivers.

“Stark are you seeing this?” the Captain asked.

“Seeing.  Still working on believing,” came the reply.  “Where’s Banner?  Has he shown up yet?”

“Banner?”

“Just keep me posted.”

Bucky stopped shooting when Rogers tapped him on the shoulder.  “We still need to get to the Tower.”

“Lead the way,” Bucky acknowledged, lowering his rifle.  

The four made their way quickly down the avenue, occasionally ducking behind cars to avoid the alien weapons.  Whenever he could, Bucky would raise the rifle and shoot back.  

At one point Clint started to point out some trapped civilians, but was interrupted by a sled passing with someone wearing familiar green and gold armor.

“Loki,” Cap said as Bucky quickly stood and tried to draw a bead on the Asgardian.  However, the sled was out of range before he could pull the trigger.  Instead he watched in horror as Loki and his minions laid out a trail of destruction before them.

“They’re fish in a barrel down there,” Cap exclaimed.  

Something shattered the glass on the car next to Rogers.  Bucky whirled around and started shooting at the Chitauri coming up behind them.  Natasha also let off a few shots before turning to the captain.

“We got this,” she told him.  “It’s good.  Go.”

“You think you can hold them off?” he asked Clint.

“Captain,” the archer replied.  “It would be my genuine pleasure.”  He stood rapidly and let off several arrows as Rogers turned and headed toward the police cars in the distance.

Bucky let Clint and Natasha aim at the aliens on the ground as he worked to take out incoming sleds to keep them off Rogers’ tail.  After a few shots he heard Clint shout, “We need to get the civilians out of that bus!”

“Copy that!”  Bucky started moving in the direction of the bus while doing a quick reload.  Natasha kept shooting and Clint ran up to help people climbing out of the emergency exit and pointing them to the nearest subway entrance.  It was then that Bucky realized the main doors were not opening.  He quickly reached over and tore them both off.  Immediately people began pouring out headed toward safety.

Bucky and Clint then stepped up beside Natasha and raised their weapons again.  

“Just like Budapest all over again,” Natasha calmly observed.

“You and I remember Budapest very differently,” Clint stated.

“Someday I will finally get the full story out of you guys,” Bucky responded.

Despite their best efforts the three soon found themselves surrounded by Chitauri.  Bucky gave up trying to take down sleds, dropping his empty rifle and pulling out a couple of knives.  Time slowed further for him and he waded into the fight, stabbing past the face guards of every alien within reach.  He was aware of Clint and Natasha fighting at his back - the three of them making a triangle of death as their foes tried to overwhelm them.  A few minutes later he caught a flash of bright blue and realized that the Captain had rejoined them. 

Suddenly, lightning fell from the sky taking out the remaining aliens around them.  Thor landed soon after, staggering a bit before walking towards them.

“What’s the story upstairs?” Rogers asked him.

“The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable,” Thor stated.

“Thor’s right,” Stark agreed over coms.  “You’ve got to deal with these guys.”

“How do we do this?” Natasha asked.

“As a team,” the Captain responded.

“I have unfinished business with Loki,” Thor said.

“Yeah?” Clint asked. “Then get in line.”

“Save it,” Rogers commanded. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us and that’s what we need.  Without him these things could run wild.  We’ve got Stark up top.  He’s going to need us to…”  

As the Captain was talking Bucky noticed an approaching motorcycle.  When he stepped aside to get a better look, Rogers stopped and also turned toward the sound.  What they saw was Bruce Banner riding up looking a bit ruffled, but unharmed.  The five of them walked up to him as he shut the bike down.

“So,” he said.  “This all seems horrible.”

“I’ve seen worse,” Natasha said pointedly.

“Sorry.”

“No, we could...use...a little worse,” she replied.

“Stark,” Rogers said, “We got him.”

“Banner?”

“Just like you said,” he acknowledged.

“You tell him to suit up,” Stark stated. “I’m bringing the party to you.”

In the distance Bucky saw Stark come around a building with one of the flying monsters in pursuit.  

“I - I don’t see how that’s a party,” Natasha said.

As Stark flew down lower with the monster on his tail, the scientist turned and started walking toward him.

“Dr. Banner,” Rogers said.  “Now might be a good time for you to get angry.”

“That’s my secret, Cap,” he said, turning to look back at them.  “I’m always angry.”

Bucky watched as Banner turned back to the creature Stark had brought and within seconds  the rumpled man turn into an angry green giant.

“Holy fuck,” he murmured as the Hulk stepped forward and slammed his fist into the flying monster’s face.  He dug in and the creature flipped up, it’s tail heading directly for them.  Bucky scrambled out of the way as repulsor fire hit the alien.  Around them the Chitauri soldiers started roaring.

Moments later Iron Man landed and the group of them circled up back to back.  

“Guys,” Natasha warned.

They all turned to look in the direction she was facing to see more of the flying fortresses coming out of the hole in the sky.

“Call it, Captain,” Stark said.

“All right, listen up,” Cap ordered.  “Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment.  Barton, I want you on that roof.  Eyes on everything.  Call out patterns and strays.  Stark, you got the perimeter.  Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash.”

“Give me a lift?” Clint asked Stark.

“Right,” he answered.  “Better clench up, Legolas.”  Stark then grabbed him by his quiver and proceeded to head for Clint’s assigned perch.

“Thor,” Rogers continued.  “You got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow ‘em down.  You’ve got the lightning - light the bastards up.”

Thor nodded, swung his hammer in a circle a few times and then took off.

“The three of us stay here on the ground,” the Captain directed, indicating himself, Bucky and Natasha.  He then turned to the last member of the group. “Hulk!”

Banner’s alter ego turned to them with a grunt.  Cap pointed up to the aliens on the buildings.

“Smash.”

Hulk grinned down at them and then lept up to begin whaling on the Chitauri above them.  

Bucky pulled his pistols out as the next wave of aliens headed towards them.  “Let’s fucking do this!”

For the next little bit the three of them spread out and fought on the ground.  Bucky quickly emptied both magazines.  He managed to reload once, but then his opponents were too close.  He re-holstered his pistols and went hand to hand.  The metal face masks made a satisfying crunching noise when he slammed his adamantium fist into them.  They also managed to keep his hand mostly blood free as the faces behind them caved in.  

Finally the wave of foes eased off and he turned to look for his team mates.  He spied Natasha leaning against a cab with Rogers standing next to her.  He walked over to them as she began speaking.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damned thing if we don’t close that portal.”

“Our biggest guns couldn’t touch it,” Cap replied.

“Well, maybe it’s not about guns,” Natasha speculated. 

More Chitauri hit the ground about a block away from them. Bucky turned his back on his teammates and pulled a couple of grenades out of a pocket in the back of his uniform.  He armed one and slung it into the middle of the group while still listening to the conversation behind him.

“You want to get up there, you’re going to need a ride.”

“I’ve got a ride.”

The first grenade exploded as Bucky armed and tossed a second.  He turned back to them as Natasha spoke again.  “I could use a boost, though.”

“You sure about this?” Cap asked as Bucky noticed one of the alien ray guns on the ground near him.

“Yeah,” Natasha assured.  “It’s going to be fun.”

As Bucky bent to pick up the gun he caught movement in his peripheral vision.  He looked up in time to see Natasha jump on Rogers’ shield to be propelled upward by the super soldier.  She managed to catch a passing sled and was gone.  In the next moment a blue ray hit the wall behind the Captain and the two of them turned to face the next wave of Chitauri.

The ray gun was surprisingly simple to operate, but it took a few shots before Bucky got the hang of aiming it.  He realized he had to turn off his internal calculator as gravity, coriolis,  and atmosphere didn’t affect the ray.  Once he got himself to just point and shoot things went much faster.  He concentrated on taking out as many of the flying sleds as he could while Rogers kept the aliens on the ground off his back.  

“Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison,” Clint called out as Rogers took down the last alien on the viaduct.  “They’ve cornered a lot of civilians in there.”

“I’m on it,” Cap replied.  Bucky turned to him, but was waved off.  “Keep working on bringing those sleds down.  I’ll take care of this.”

“Yes, sir,” Bucky replied hoisting his ray gun and turning back to scan the skies.

For a time he stood in the middle of the viaduct and just took out as many sleds as he could.  It helped that they flew in wedge formations.  He could shoot the lead sled and it would wipe out a couple more as it fell.  After a while he heard a noise behind him and spun to find another squad of foot soldiers closing in on him.  He reached for the grenade pocket on his back and pulled the last one out.  He swung his left arm about, arming and throwing the grenade all in one motion.  It took out a good chunk of the squad.  He then brought the ray gun back up and stalked toward them, dropping an alien with each shot and ignoring the incoming fire.  There were two left when the ray gun stopped firing and powered down.  Without a thought Bucky dropped the gun and leapt forward to take the last couple down with fist and knife.  

Bucky looked around and realized he was alone.  He took the time to quickly reload his pistols and then scanned the road below the viaduct looking for teammates.  In the distance he saw Thor and Rogers fighting side by side.  Nodding to himself he easily jumped the guardrail to the road below and then took off at full speed to join them.

As he reached the pair he heard Natasha’s voice coming over the coms.  

“I can close it!  Can anybody copy?  I can shut the portal down.”

“Do it!” Rogers orders.

“No, wait!” Stark called out.  

“Stark, these things are still coming!”

“I’ve got a nuke coming in.  It’s going to blow in less than a minute,” Stark explained quickly.  “And I know just where to put it.”

Steve turned to Bucky and mouthed ‘Nuke?’

"Bomb," Bucky whispered back.

“Stark,” Rogers said.  “You know that’s a one way trip.”

The three of them looked up at the sound of repulsors overhead.  They watched as he flew toward the Tower and then turned abruptly upward and headed into the portal.  Moments later the entire Chitauri army fell to the ground.  Bucky looked around in disbelief before staring back up at the hole in the sky.

“Come on, asshole,” he mutter.  “Get the fuck out of there.”

They waited for a few moments and then Rogers directed Natasha to close the portal.

The blue beam abruptly cut off and Bucky watched as the hole irised closed.  Just as it disappeared a speck fell out of it that quickly resolved into Iron Man.

“Son of a gun,” Rogers said.

“He’s not slowing down,” Thor noticed and began spinning his hammer.  Before he could take off, however, Hulk leapt in from out of nowhere and grabbed Stark. He landed on the side of a building, slid down it and then pushed off to land on his back near them, bouncing off a car in the process.  Once he stopped he tossed Stark off him and then rolled to his feet.  Bucky, Rogers, and Thor ran to meet them.

Thor got there first and ripped off the mask of the suit.  Rogers leaned over Stark to listen for breathing. 

“His chest isn’t glowing,” Bucky noted worriedly.  

Rogers sat back looking defeated.  The four of them just stared at Stark for a moment and then the Hulk let out a frustrated roar.  Suddenly the genius gasped and opened his eyes.

“What the hell?” he asked.  “What just happened?  Please tell me nobody kissed me.”

“As if,” Bucky said with a smirk.

Rogers just grinned.  “We won.”

“All right, yay!” Stark responded.  “All right, good job, guys! Let’s just not come in tomorrow.  Let’s just...take a day.  Have you ever tried shawarma?  There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here.  I don’t know what it is, but I wanna try it.”

“We’re not finished yet,” Thor stated.  The three looked up at him.

“Then shawarma after,” Stark decided.

“Sounds good,” Bucky said, helping Stark stand up.  

Thor spun his hammer again and flew off toward Stark Tower.  Hulk grunted, grabbed Stark and then leapt after the Asgardian.  Rogers and Bucky looked at each other.

“Race ya,” the Captain challenged.

Laughing Bucky spun toward the Tower and took off at top speed Captain America at his side.

They met a weary and scuffed up Clint in the lobby and got in one of the elevators.  Before they could hit a button it took off.

"Welcome to Stark Tower. I am Jarvis,” a British voice said.  “We’ll be at the penthouse momentarily.”

Sure enough, the doors opened to a large room where they joined the rest of the team to stare down at a stunned looking Loki.

“If it’s all the same to you,” the thin Asgardian said.  “I’ll have that drink now.”

***  
They did eat shawarma once Loki was secured by a manacle and gag set that Thor pulled out of somewhere.  (Pocket dimension? Yeah, Bucky was going to go with that.)  By the time they were done eating SHIELD had descended upon downtown Manhattan to secure the alien tech and bodies, and also assist with rescue and clean up.  The Avengers were hustled off and Bucky found himself and Steve put on a quinjet to Brooklyn. After the Captain fell asleep on his shoulder during the short trip, Bucky decided to disembark at Steve’s place. He helped Steve get cleaned up and to bed, then when he felt he did not have the energy to walk the three blocks to his own apartment, he just took a quick shower and crashed on Steve’s couch.

The SHIELD text message alert woke Bucky the next morning.  He grabbed his phone and checked the message to find that the Avengers were supposed to assemble at Central Park at 11:00 to see off Thor and Loki.  He put the phone back down, stretched and sat up.  He considered his options and decided he might as well make breakfast.

He’d just finished going through Steve’s refrigerator and cabinets when the other super soldier walked into the kitchen.

“Bucky?” Steve said around a yawn.

“Hey, Steve,” Bucky responded as he pulled an unopened bag of coffee out of one cabinet.  “Hope you don’t mind that I crashed here.  I didn’t have the energy to walk home last night.”  He waved the bag at the other man.  “Do you not like coffee?”

“I don’t know how to use the coffee maker,” Steve explained sheepishly.

Bucky blinked at Steve and asked while indicating the room around them.  “How much of the stuff in here do you know how to use?”

“I figured out the stove,”  Steve said with a shrug.

“Yeah, okay.  I’m unofficially taking over being your guide to the 21st century.  And the minute I can corner Hill, I plan on annoying her until she makes me your official guide, seeing as Williamson is doing jack shit to help you learn anything.”  He pulled down coffee filters and found a measuring spoon as he talked and then waved Steve over.  “We’ll have breakfast and then head over to Central Park.”

“What’s at Central Park?” Steve asked as he watched Bucky measuring out the grounds.

“We’re seeing Thor off with his crazy ass brother and the tesseract,” Bucky said as he took the carafe to the sink to fill it.  “Not in the habit of checking your text messages yet?”

“I don’t know what those are.”

Bucky sighed and shook his head.  “I’m so damned sorry, Steve.  I cannot believe...Okay, look.  Were you given a cell phone?”

“If that’s the same as a cellular phone, then yes,” Steve responded.  “But no one showed me how to use it.”

Bucky nodded as he poured the water into the coffee maker.  “I should stop being surprised.  So, here’s the fucking plan.  I’m going to show you how to use your kitchen appliances while we make breakfast.  Then I’ll show you as much as I can on how to use your cell until we have to leave for the meet up.  Afterwards, we’ll wing it.”

“You know, you really don’t have - “ Steve started.

“What’s that, Steve?” Bucky interrupted with a glare.  “Why yes, I do plan on bragging to my family - especially my Mom who co-wrote a book on you - about the fact that I get to hang out with Captain America.”

“Got it,” Steve said, trying to suppress a grin.  “So, what are we making for breakfast?”

***  
After Credits Scene

Bucky listened at the door of Steve’s apartment after knocking a second time.  When he could hear no movement inside, he put the lattes he was carrying on the hallway floor (he was pretty sure a white mocha with extra whip was going to blow Steve’s mind).  It took him only a matter of seconds to pick the locks and open the door.  He stepped over to the alarm panel and punched in an override code which caused it to blink green.  Someone was probably going to get in trouble for that, he thought as he fetched the drinks and put them on the coffee table.  Phil’s code should have been deactivated by now.

Bucky wandered around the apartment to find it lacking one blond super soldier.  A look in the closets showed them to be empty.  The bathroom was cleared out as well.  

“God-fucking-damnit!”  He swore as he headed out of the apartment.  

A few seconds later he was back to get the drinks. Looked like he was going to have to deal with that fuckface Williamson.  If so, he was going to do it with a sugar buzz.  

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm pheylan13 over on Tumblr, if your interested. I try to write interesting posts, but mostly I ramble about my cats and toys when I'm not reblogging Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan's faces.


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